Appa Gets Sick
by Squicy31
Summary: What happens when Appa goes missing for two days and he gets sick? Very little Kataang fluff. Appa/Aang friendship. Set two years after the war. Review please!


This is a one shot whenever Appa gets really sick and Aang and Katara have to find a cure for him. Katara knows the cure and the reason why he's sick. But why won't she tell him? Will he get better?

Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or Appa. But if I did I would not have given M. Night Shyamalan permission to make The Last Airbender movie

It was about two years after the war ended and Appa has been missing again for about two days now.

"Appa!" Called a distraught Aang. He and Katara have been looking endlessly ever since Aang noticed Appa wasn't in the stables.

"Aang, calm down. I'm sure we will find him," Katara said trying to confront her boyfriend.

"I hope he's okay," Aang said as he started to blow his bison whistle.

Little did they know, Appa was in the forest about ten miles away from them fighting four angry looking platypus bears. When he heard the whistle, he looked away for a measly second and one of the bears bit him on his right front leg. Appa roared out in pain as he scared the bears away.

Appa licked the spot where the bear bit him and roared even louder than before. That time Aang and Katara heard him. Aang scooped up Katara and ran straight towards where he had heard Appa. He looked around and saw nothing. Katara noticed some clumps of fur and followed the trail with a sad looking Aang in tow. Katara looked at what was lying in front of her. She tapped Aang on the shoulder, pointing to the injured bison.

Aang ran up to Appa and gave him a hug with tears in his eyes. Appa started licking his wound again and roared again in pain. Aang noticed it and quenched in fear, he was injured. Aang called Katara over to see if she could heal it. She bended some water out of the air, moving it over the wound. When the water started to glow, Katara noticed it wasn't healing like it should. She soon realized it wasn't going to go away so quickly.

She looked over to Aang who had a smile on his face. When she gave him a small shook of her head, his smile quickly disappeared.

"W-what is it? Can you heal it? Is he gonna get better?" Aang started crowding her with questions.

"Calm down Sweetie. From the looks of it, I would say he has gotten bitten by a platypus bear," She replied placing a hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong with that? I mean can't you heal it?"

"I can't heal it right away. But we need to act fast."

Katara knew what was wrong with Appa. He had a rare and very contagious disease that transferred between animals in the Earth Kingdom, especially bagermoles and platypus bears. She knew an animal that size could die within a day or two without proper care. But since they were wild, they had no health care. And since Appa was so big it would take at least three days to kill him. She just didn't wanna tell Aang that, because if he knew his beloved bison could die in a matter of days, he'd be going all glowy trying to find help for Appa.

All Katara told him what to do was relax and help find the right herbs she would need. Within ten minutes, Aang came back with a handful of what she would need. She made a fire and started to boil water over a small pot that they had in Appa's saddle, which he was still wearing since the day he went missing. Aang just sat and watched her make the medicine, waiting to be told to do something else.

"Aang, go get me some more water," Katara commanded, trying to get him out of here so she can do what she had to.

"Can't you just bend it out of the air? I mean won't that be quicker than me running towards the stream over there?"

"No! Now hurry," She said pointing in the opposite direction.

Katara walked over towards Appa, telling him in advanced that it was gonna hurt really badly so he can be prepared. Katara got him some shirshu tea to drink. It would make him paralyzed so he couldn't feel the pain as much. She didn't give him too much because it would kill him by paralyzing his heart. She found some unused needles in the first aid bag in his saddle. She filled it with shirshu spit as well to paralyze the area around the wound.

When Aang got back, he didn't know what Katara was doing so he just sat back and watched, ready to be prepared at what might happen. Katara stuck the needle in the wound softly releasing the spit making it go numb. Appa roared in pain as she pulled it out. Aang was about to get up but Katara told him to stand back, noticing that Appa gets too excited when he sees Aang coming closer.

Katara disinfected the wound after injecting it with the spit. She knew the spit wouldn't last very long, up to an hour or two, so she had to act fast. She put the herb juice into four empty needles and stuck them all in while it drained out by itself, going at its own pace. Appa soon dozed off into a quiet slumber, which was bad. He couldn't sleep now or it would kill him. Aang had to waterbend water onto his whole body, which was starting to heal from its paralyzed state. Appa knew that he had to be still and not move the needles at all.

When the needles were out of the juice, Katara pulled them out. Then healing the bite mark from his white fur, making it look like it wasn't even there to begin with. Appa got all feeling back in his legs and body again. He went over to Katara and Aang, licking them with thanks. While Appa was resting for a while, Aang and Katara sat under a tree. Aang leaned in and kissed Katara.

"What was that for?" Asked Katara.

"For saving Appa's life. Without you, he wouldn't be here right now. Well I wouldn't either. And I know he had that disease that carries through the animals here. And I understand why you didn't tell me. It's okay," Aang said kissing her again.

"You're welcome," Katara said returning the kiss. " I love you, Aang."

"I love you too, Katara," he said before picking her up and lifting her up onto Appa's saddle, flying them back home.


End file.
